‘People are hungry, some dying’ — Hanks Anuku backs planned protest

Hanks Anuku, the Nigerian actor, has expressed his support towards the planned nationwide protest.

The nationwide protest over the economic hardship in the country has been slated for the first week of August.

The federal government and President Bola Tinubu have also appealed to the organisers to shelve the demonstrations.

But in a now-viral video, the movie star is seen holding a placard with the caption “hunger dey” written on it.

In the footage, Anuku stressed that the demonstration would be “peaceful”. He added that the protest aims to fight for “equity, justice and fairness in governance”.

“Fellow Nigerians, I love you but I am not going to betray you. People are seriously hungry, even though I do not rest because people keep texting my phone, asking me for money. I do not have a job, I am going through a lot of stress,” he said.

“I am going through the devastation in our nation Nigeria. People who I love are going hungry, some are dying. Even the president is not listening to us anymore, what do you want me to do? I need to stand up for equity, justice and fairness in governance.

“It is a peaceful protest, we are peacemakers. We are not warriors or soldiers, we are just civilians and democrats who want equity, justice and fairness for everybody. Those we voted for should know that essence in which they are there, serving the nation.

“Why are they stealing from us? The protest is for people to know that we are peaceful. Let them see at the House of Assembly, the presidency that these people are peacemakers. We are not going to war, we are just going to protest so that they can listen up and change their ways from darkness to light.”

The planned protest has sparked mixed reactions among celebrities.

Actor Yul Edochie recently urged people not to protest and to be patient with Tinubu. Singer Portable also argued there is no reason to protest because “Nigeria is okay”.

Activist DJ Switch, however, called on Nigerians to unite ahead of the protest “if we want actual change”.